St. John's to stop birth announcement distribution
Oct. 25, 2007

St. John’s Hospitals in Springfield and Lebanon will no longer send birth announcements to area newspapers beginning this week. The move is meant to help prevent potential home infant abductions. National safety experts, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, discourage hospitals and parents from publishing birth announcements in newspapers because abductors can and have used the names to find addresses. They report a small number of infant abductions have been linked to birth announcements in local papers. Also, in April 1999, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations recommended hospitals discourage parents from publishing their newborns names in the paper.

“We are sad that we have to bring to a close the traditional way we have celebrated new life in our community,” says Susanne Miller, St. John’s Vice President of Women’s & Children’s Services. “But we can’t ignore the growing trend of home abductions and want to do everything we can to help ensure their safety.”

Listings of newborns in newspapers has been a voluntary act by the mother, but hospitals have facilitated this by getting information from mothers and requiring that a release be signed before providing any information to newspapers.

According to Security Assessments International, a safety consulting firm, in-home abductions are up 86% this past year nationwide. In addition to discouraging public birth announcements, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children also reminds parents to not post signs or balloons announcing their new baby. They also suggest parents not let anyone in the home they don’t know and to ask for identification when expecting home agency visits, or to call the agency that the person is representing to confirm the visit.

St. John’s has taken proactive steps to help ensure infant security by equipping infant and child areas with a state-of-the-art electronic infant security system and training staff and parents on security issues. In addition, nursing staff is providing parent education for safety steps for returning home from the hospital.

For media information, contact Cora Scott at 417-820-2426 or 417-830- 7271 or cora.scott@mercy.net